I see it as art but it's a dangerous kind of art to do with skin infection and nerve damage a real possibility, even if antiseptic and sterile needles are used. Sure there are people who enjoy self harm but that doesn't mean it's harmless.

I know that all the bdsm practitioners will say I'm wrong and I don't understand the rush, but I do understand completely. As I said at the top, I can view this as interesting art but I also see the person and know this doesn't come from a place of self-love or confidence. It comes from a need to feel because there's something broken that can't be described in any other way than inflicting pain.

You're making a lot of assumptions. Infection from skin injury is in medical terms a real possibility, any skin piercing or trauma that draws blood risks introduction of MRSA and a variety of skin borne bacteria and damage to nerves. Trying to pretend otherwise is odd but I understand that the BSDM community do a lot of pretending their practices can cause no harm. As for my justifications being BS, that is your opinion but I really don't care much for the opinion of someone who'll let another person do themselves harm while taking photos of it for personal gain or titillation.

You forgot to mention Ebola. You could get Ebola from looking at this image. Seriously you could get a skin infection just as easily playing in your yard or a park and getting a scratch on a bush. None of you assumptions about the mental state of the model before during or after the shoot are correct. If you could make a diagnosis like that after looking at a picture of someones torso, you should be teaching in a university.

I see no other way to treat your argument. "Could", "Potentially" are things you could put in front of anything regarding this photograph. It "could" ruin her chances of becoming president of the United States. The real question is "will it?" And the odds of it causing any of your dire consequences are nil.

So self harm is ok if she evades any long term illness from it. OK with that argument other forms of torture are also ok. She has a mental illness where she enjoys pain and you're enabling her, end of story. As for her future health, it all depends on how far her desire to harm herself escalates.

Your basic premise, that is is a given that this is a mental illness is wrong. Please go read the actual DSM V, or better yet get a degree that lets you diagnose people through photographs on DA. Every bit of your argument stems from that and so it is all flawed. If you want to be taken seriously you have to at least start from some basis in fact or truth.

Yes and no. For people like her, Mitsu ([link]) and myself that sharp sting hurts so good. Then there is the endorphin high/rush (i.e. subspace), the feeling of the trickles of blood running down my/her skin after they are removed, and the sting of rubbing alcohol being sprayed on afterwards.

Sorry, I got a little carried away but yes, her smile in the photo after this one and the blissed out look on Mitsu's face are completely real and not acting.

Well she (karamilk) isn't very active even on fetlife (kind of like facebook/deviantart but for naughty, kinky people) but Mitsu is and I have had several conversations with Mitsu. Remember, in the world of BDSM/fetish the line between pain and pleasure can be very thin even though needle play/play piercing isn't that common even on fetlife as it is usually a love it or hate it thing (and you may have noticed, there are only like 4-6 different models in his needles and blood gallery while there are tons in his rope bondage,). It is definitely a different and unique feeling compared to say, flogging or caning.

Note that I had nothing to do with any of the photos, I'm just a fan of a good play piercing scene/session even though I haven't found anyone yet to do any kind of artistic stuff with them yet.

While normally this sort of fetish isnt my thing I find that the patterns made on her skin by both the peircing and the indentations by the points of the needles along with the serpentine path are what makes this so appealing to me. I would never before have considered this sort of thing art but I find this photo to be rather sublime.

Yes, it is beautiful and I have seen some very nice designs. Keep in mind that most of the time when play piercing/needle play is done there are no pictures taken and it's even more rare for it to be done as part of a professional photoshoot. Most such pictures are just plain old cell phone (or point and shoot camera) photos taken at a fetish club/dungeon/play party. Also, this is the same model that did the needle harp in case you were wondering.

But yes, the "double stick" is often quite a bit more intense/painful than two separate needles especially at first but that often results in an even bigger and more intense endorphin high (and while I don't know about karamilk both Mitsu and myself like the sting/pain of the piercings themselves even before those lovely endorphins kick in). But yes, there is a good reason she was giggling like crazy through most of it

Not crazy, just a little different. In fact there is a very good reason [link](BDSM) why she was giggling through most of it. In fact, fetlife is full of people (yes, including both Karamilk and Mitsu) who do that kind of thing just for fun.

To put it simply, a certain percentage of the population can actually get high from their brain's response to pain (as long as it is the "right" kind of pain and in the right situation, which is highly individual and the reason those multi-page checklists exist). It is similar to how a basketball/football player might break their leg and not feel it at all until after the game is over (only the response is far more intense than it should "normally" be).

Pain and torture disguised as beauty, art and blah blah blah... Pleasure and beauty is about freedom and love. When people like to hurt (inflicting wounds, or even the non-physical stuff) or when they like to be hurt, we're talking about a mental sickness (and I'm not being mean). The concept of natural distance between pleasure and pain (opposite by nature) are broken. You may say that you LIKE and ENJOY pain but it's just that you are addict to an activity/behaviour you suffered or you did and experienced as TRAUMATIC or REJECTABLE. After that, your psyche turned that behaviour into something good, into something enjoyable in order to protect yourself from that harm, that's what psyche does all the time. It's a normal mechanism of defense. The point is that you forgot what happened to you or what you did and now you are into this world of fake love submission and beauty that alters the natural forms and organization of our bodies.The skin is perfect and it doesn't need to be broken again and again, it will have to make an effort and close up again so that nothing strange enters the body. Blood is meant to remain inside, it has a purpouse inside the body. If we lose it the body will have to make an effort and produce more, I mean, there's not and "excedent" of blood so that we can throw it away. It is very valuable. I'm saying this for you to see that not even in a biological point of view these behaviours are acceptable...Obviously this is MY opinion and I'm saying it very strongly, but I think many many people think the same way...